Keeping kids in school, out of gangs

April 18, 2013

Updated Aug. 21, 2013 1:17 p.m.

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Buena Park police officers Luis Garcia, left, and James Woo, escort Cheree People, 33, to their patrol car, handcuffed and under arrest after ignoring several attempts by law enforcement, school officials and members of the District Attorneys office to help her get her elementary school child's high truancy rate reduced. The child had accumulated 20 unexcused absences as of January. Peoples was arrested at her home and charged with one misdemeanor count of contributing to the delinquency of a minor and one misdemeanor count of failure to reasonably supervise or encourage school attendance. If convicted, Peoples faces a sentence ranging from probation up to one year in jail and $2,500 in fines. BRUCE CHAMBERS, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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After arresting Toya Latrice Daniels, Buena Park police officer James Woo, left, walks Daniels in his patrol car for transportation to the Buena Park Police Department. Daniels was charged with one misdemeanor count of contributing to the delinquency of a minor and one misdemeanor count of failure to reasonably supervise or encourage school attendance. By March of the school year, her elementary school child had accumulated 17 unexcused absences. BRUCE CHAMBERS, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Thursday morning, parent Cheree People, 33,was handcuffed and placed under arrest by Buena Park police officers, charged with one misdemeanor count of contributing to the delinquency of a minor and one misdemeanor count of failure to reasonably supervise or encourage school attendance. People's child had accumulated 20 unexcused absences as of January. BRUCE CHAMBERS, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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After arresting Toya Latrice Daniels, Buena Park police officer James Woo, right, walks Daniels out her home and to his patrol car for transportation to the Buena Park Police Department. Daniels was charged with one misdemeanor count of contributing to the delinquency of a minor and one misdemeanor count of failure to reasonably supervise or encourage school attendance. By March of the school year, her elementary school child had accumulated 17 unexcused absences. BRUCE CHAMBERS, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

After arresting Toya Latrice Daniels, 38, Buena Park police officer James Woo, right, walks Daniels out her apartment complex and to his patrol car. Daniels was charged with one misdemeanor count of contributing to the delinquency of a minor and one misdemeanor count of failure to reasonably supervise or encourage school attendance. By March of the school year, her elementary school child had accumulated 17 unexcused absences. BRUCE CHAMBERS, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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After arresting Toya Latrice Daniels, Buena Park police officer James Woo, left, places Daniels in his patrol car for transportation to the Buena Park Police Department. Daniels was charged with one misdemeanor count of contributing to the delinquency of a minor and one misdemeanor count of failure to reasonably supervise or encourage school attendance. By March of the school year, her elementary school child had accumulated 17 unexcused absences. BRUCE CHAMBERS, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Buena Park police officers Luis Garcia, right, and James Woo, knock on the door of parent Cheree People, 33. They had come to arrest her for misdemeanor charges of contributing to the delinquency of a minor and one misdemeanor count of failure to reasonably supervise or encourage school attendance. According to Orange County Deputy District Attorney Tracy Rinauro, People's elementary school child had accumulated 20 unexcused absences from school by January of the school year. Rinauro said that People had failed to use the resources offered to her to help correct the truancy problem. BRUCE CHAMBERS, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Thursday morning in Buena Park, Francisco Reynoso, an investigator with the Orange County District Attorney's office, uses caution as he enters the home of a parent that was arrested inside for failure to respond to numerous interventions to reduce the truancy of their elementary school child. A women was arrested and charged with one misdemeanor count of contributing to the delinquency of a minor and one misdemeanor count of failure to reasonably supervise or encourage school attendance. BRUCE CHAMBERS, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Thursday morning in Buena Park, Francisco Reynoso, an investigator with the Orange County District Attorney's office, accompanied Buena Park police officers as they arrested two parents for the high truancy rates of their children. Reynoso works with the Orange County Gang Reduction Intervention Partnership (OC GRIP). BRUCE CHAMBERS, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

Buena Park police officers Luis Garcia, left, and James Woo, escort Cheree People, 33, to their patrol car, handcuffed and under arrest after ignoring several attempts by law enforcement, school officials and members of the District Attorneys office to help her get her elementary school child's high truancy rate reduced. The child had accumulated 20 unexcused absences as of January. Peoples was arrested at her home and charged with one misdemeanor count of contributing to the delinquency of a minor and one misdemeanor count of failure to reasonably supervise or encourage school attendance. If convicted, Peoples faces a sentence ranging from probation up to one year in jail and $2,500 in fines. BRUCE CHAMBERS, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

BUENA PARK – Toya Daniels' apartment building is around the corner from Whitaker Elementary School – a 10 minute walk or a minute drive.

But as of March, her child has had 17 unexcused absences; a rate officials said was unacceptable. On Thursday, Buena Park police put Daniels, 38, in handcuffs as part of a countywide truancy sweep that resulted in six arrests. Parents of children with chronic absences who had also failed to take part in a variety of community services were charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor and failing to supervise or encourage school attendance.

"Kids have the right to an education," Assistant District Attorney Tracy Rinauro said. "If they don't get an education, the chance of them being criminals or joining a gang increases."

Holding parents accountable for truancy is part of Orange County's Gang Reduction Intervention Partnership, a program involving local schools, law enforcement, the District Attorney's office, Community Services Programs and the Orange County Probation Department. Since the beginning of the year, police in cities from Anaheim to San Clemente have identified 43 schools where students are exposed to gang activity. When any of the fourth through eighth graders at the schools start showing problems with behavior, academics or attendance, teachers, counselors and police step in.

Offered mentors

Students are offered mentors through Big Brothers Big Sisters of Orange County as well as an afterschool homework program, and parents may take part in parenting classes, counseling and other support services. The intervention program has worked with about 100 at-risk kids at each school so far this year, Rinauro said, and the success rate has been remarkable.

"Most of the time, we find the kids just want to go to school," she said.

The six parents who didn't cooperate with case workers' plans were booked in Orange County Jail and expected to be released before their children came home from school Thursday afternoon. A misdemeanor conviction could result in a year of probation or jail time as well as a $2,500 fine. In the five years the program has been active in O.C., Rinauro said only 11 parents have been arrested.

"It's not our goal," she said. "Our goal is to provide the resources we can to change the dynamics – get the kids to go to school and have ties to the community."

Children who continuously miss school begin to fall behind, she said. They begin to believe they're not smart and are more likely to go on to commit crimes as they grow older. Rinauro said truancy was the first crime for 76 percent of those in California prisons. Since the program began locally, she said she's seen positive changes.

"We've seen crime around the schools go down, vandalism go down," she said.

At the beginning of the school year, Veronica Ayala said her son, a student at Kinoshita Elementary School in San Juan Capistrano, was doing terribly. He wasn't doing his homework, and he lied to her about it. During a parent-teacher conference, Ayala learned he was at risk of becoming a gang member.

"I immediately burst into tears and said, 'no,'" she said. "I will do anything it takes to keep him out of that."

Her son's teacher told her about the services offered through GRIP, and Ayala said she was determined to get whatever help was possible. She took parenting classes, and her son began spending time with a Big Brother. She started communicating regularly with his teacher, and in the mornings, she volunteered as a GRIP greeter, a neighborhood-watch type program to discourage gang activity near schools.

"It has completely turned him around," she said.

Making time to get involved wasn't easy for Ayala, who works, is in school and has three other children. Discussing issues with his teacher and using consistent discipline at home was worth the extra responsibility, she said. Now, she said she's excited about watching her children improve their grades and overcome bad behavior.

"I'm still a single parent, but I don't have that stress anymore," she said.

Wide-ranging program

Counting teachers, volunteers, case workers and law enforcement, Rinauro estimated 10,000 people are involved with GRIP's various programs, which also includes sports camps and the parent greeters. Police officers meet regularly with families, and Rinauro said their first-hand experience with the results of gang violence makes them especially compassionate in working with kids.

"They don't want to see them die anymore," she said.

Det. James Woo of the Buena Park Police Department he's been happy to shift to a preventative approach with the GRIP program.

"I truly believe in it," he said.

On detectives' days off, they'll play basketball with neighborhood kids. Getting to know local families has inspired him and helped him be open-minded in his work, he said. And working with the kids keeps him feeling young, he added.

Now, when he and his partner drive through the neighborhood, they're greeted by kids by name. Parents are more likely to bring problems to them, and when someone is in need, the community relationships exist to provide help.

"Building that trust with the community is really important," he said. "It helps us with investigations when we're dealing with gang-related incidents."

Above all, though, the goal of the program is to show kids they have choices outside of joining a gang or using drugs. In the students he works with, he's seen improvements in behavior and grades since the beginning of the school year.

"We want to give that opportunity to them," he said.

Francisco Reynoso, an investigator with the District Attorney's office and a father himself, agreed that focusing on truancy could change kids' lives.

"If they're not in school, they're not learning," he said. "They're not getting the fighting chance."

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